how to get healthcare providers on board with patient portal use

To help, provide training and incentives for providers to connect with patients using the portal. Make sure providers acknowledge when patients use the portal, or continue to use it. Consider creating a canned phrase your providers can use to encourage continued use when they see a patient has used the portal.

Full Answer

How do patient portal users most commonly access their health information?

★ Patient portal users most commonly accessed their health information through a computer (83%) – six in 10 portal users accessed their health information using only this method. Notes: Denominator represents individuals who accessed their patient portal at least once within the past year.

How do I request access to the medical portal?

For technical assistance with requesting access to the Medical Portal or Health Care Provider Online Administration, please email WCBCustomerSupport@wcb.ny.gov. Please include in the email your Medical Portal username and a description or screenshot of the issue.

How do I assign delegates to a patient in the medical portal?

The health care provider (administrator) will use their Medical Portal login credentials to access Health Care Provider Administration application to assign delegates. Your PAR notifications will be sent to the email address entered in My Profile.

How do I access health care provider administration application?

The health care provider (administrator) will use their Medical Portal login credentials to access Health Care Provider Administration application to assign delegates. Your PAR notifications will be sent to the email address entered in My Profile. You may also use My Profile to update your mailing address.

How do you get patients to use the portal?

Here are nine ways to improve patient portal engagement.Enroll at the first appointment. ... Auto-enroll to schedule online appointments. ... Include a link to the portal when patients sign in. ... Link your portal sign up on all correspondence. ... Optimize for desktop and mobile. ... Empower all staff to sign patients up. ... Offer incentives.More items...•Aug 12, 2019

How is patient portal used in healthcare?

A patient portal is a website for your personal health care. The online tool helps you to keep track of your health care provider visits, test results, billing, prescriptions, and so on.Aug 13, 2020

How do I increase patient portal adoption?

How to Improve Patient Portal Adoption, Registration RatesConduct patient outreach, education.Considering hard-to-reach populations.Using the patient portal in public health efforts.Jan 27, 2021

What method's should the organization use to market the portal to patients?

Capture email addresses for every patient. Don't assume that your patients don't have an email address. Ask every patient for their email as they schedule an appointment. Capture that information in your practice management system. Your patients will automatically be invited to join your portal.May 20, 2013

Why do patients not use patient portals?

The researchers found no demographic differences among nonusers who said that a technology hurdle, lack of internet access or no online medical record was the reason why they did not make use of a patient portal.May 14, 2019

Do patient portals improve healthcare?

Background. Engaging patients in the delivery of health care has the potential to improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction. Patient portals may enhance patient engagement by enabling patients to access their electronic medical records (EMRs) and facilitating secure patient-provider communication.

Can you hear me now a patient portal initiative program to increase patient engagement in an outpatient primary care setting?

The portal initiative program increased patient portal registration by 70% during the eight- week timeline. Using the PHE-5 scale as a metric, an increase in patient engagement of 60% was found, as three of the five scales showed an increase in engagement.Apr 21, 2021

Why is the patient portal a good tool for patient engagement?

Further, portals help providers educate their patients and prepare them for future care encounters. When patients have access to their health data, they are better informed, and have the potential to generate deep and meaningful conversations regarding patient wellness during doctor's appointments.May 13, 2016

What elements should be incorporated into a patient portal?

A robust patient portal should include the following features:Clinical summaries.Secure (HIPAA-compliant) messaging.Online bill pay.New patient registration.Ability to update demographic information.Prescription renewals and contact lens ordering.Appointment requests.Appointment reminders.More items...

Improving Care with Patient Portals

Patients can sometimes feel overwhelmed during a doctor’s appointment, whether due to unexpected news or complex medical terminology. Fortunately, patient portals allow providers to share clinical summaries after a screening or check-up, so patients can then easily reference their medical history or lab results on their own time.

Understanding Low Portal Adoption Rates

As helpful as this technology can be, it still isn’t being used to its full potential. At two-thirds of hospitals, less than a quarter of patients have activated their portal. Despite our constantly-connected world, many patients still don't use or see the value in the patient portal.

Improving the Use of Patient Portals

Nearly all healthcare facilities have a portal system in place, and many practitioners are trying to encourage their patients to use the technology. It’s important for healthcare providers to understand their patients’ barriers to adoption and how to best address and counter them.

Requesting Access to the Medical Portal

Health care providers who would like to request Board authorization or use the Medical Portal to access training, the MTG Lookup Tool, Drug Formulary Lookup Tool or OnBoard: Limited Release will need to request an NY.gov user ID and password.

CMS-1500 XML Submission Agreement

After logging into the Medical Portal, providers who have not already signed up for XML submission of the CMS-1500, will see a link " Agreement for XML submission of CMS-1500 " under the Billing section . Select the link and click the "I Accept" button.

Health Care Provider Online Administration

All health care providers who have access to the Medical Portal will automatically be granted access to an online Health Care Provider administration function for the Medical Portal.

Technical Support

For technical assistance with requesting access to the Medical Portal or Health Care Provider Online Administration, please email WCBCustomerSupport@wcb.ny.gov. Please include in the email your Medical Portal username and a description or screenshot of the issue.

Understand Behavior and Demographics

For patients with chronic conditions, promote the fact the portal offers:

Create a Marketing Plan

How do you tell patients to use your patient portal? Is it just a sheet of paper you hand them before they leave? Is it a reminder email? You’ll want to tell them in as many ways as you can; so, although these are good ways to spread the word about your patient portal, they’re not enough. In addition to the methods mentioned above, consider:

Include Enrollment as Part of Registration

Again, this is kind of a no-brainer, right? When patients are filling out their intake paperwork, make sure you collect email addresses and have a form or flyer ready to hand out. We also suggest having a front desk “champion” that understands the patient portal like the back of her hand.

Encourage Providers to Promote the Portal

Your patients are a captive audience who listen to your doctors, right? In a perfect world they listen anyway – but we digress. By having providers promote the portal, the idea is that adoption rates will go up because they’re being told by their doctor.

What Did We Miss?

Have other great tips to encourage patient portal adoption and continued use? Let us know what works for your office in the comments.

Overview

Patient portals improve the way in which patients and health care providers interact. A product of meaningful use requirements, they were mandated as a way to provide patients with timely access to their health care. Specifically, patient portals give patients access to their health information to take a more active role.

Primary Benefits

No matter the type of platform you choose, your patient portal can provide your patients with secure online access to their medical details and increase their engagement with your practice. And not to mention that it does so while providing several benefits for health care providers as well. Some of these benefits include:

Notable Challenges

While many people have used a patient portal by now, they have mixed reviews at best. As you can see in the section above, there are plenty of benefits that patient portals provide. But unfortunately, their potential has yet to be fully harnessed.

Emerging Trends

If patient portals are a mixed bag, why should the patient portal receive greater consideration in the EHR, EMR and practice management selection processes? Because when you look at current industry trends, patient portals are well on their way to improving. Some of these trends include:

How to Use a Patient Portal

With patient portals, the first and foremost thing you will need is a computer and a working internet connection. Create a customized user’s account in the software to avail medical services on your own. Once you enter the patient portal, click on links and products sold by the provider and tap into a new experience.

Solution Evaluation

Now that you know what a patient portal is and given the potential and growing importance, how should you evaluate the best portal for your practice or facility? You can select a standalone patient portal that a third-party vendor commonly hosts through the cloud as a health care provider.

Final Thoughts

It’s clear that using a patient portal software can provide several benefits for your medical practice. After accounting for these nine considerations, you should be ready to start using a patient portal. The only decision left to make is which platform you’ll use.

Summary

Individuals’ rates of being offered and subsequently accessing their patient portal increased significantly between 2018 and 2019, but did not change in 2020.

Data Source and Methods

Data are from the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS).

Suggested Citation

Johnson C, Richwine C, & Patel V. (September 2021). Individuals’ Access and Use of Patient Portals and Smartphone Health Apps, 2020. ONC Data Brief, no.57. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology: Washington DC.

Why do we need patient portals?

Some patient portals also enable patients to plan appointments and handle bills instantly through the system. For providers, they serve as an opportunity to improve patient engagement, increase loyalty, control costs and streamline workflows.

What are the benefits of patient portal?

With routine use, your practice should see higher patient engagement and fulfillment, and a more streamlined workflow that conserves time and effort for staff and physicians.

How do portals improve patient loyalty?

Portals can improve patient loyalty. The continuous relationship and communication that happens outside of appointments inspire patients to feel cared for and to remain loyal to your practice. Raise your value. Patients value straightforward access to information and direct interaction that happens with portal use.

Why is it important to share patient data electronically?

The facility to quickly enter and share patient data electronically helps to reduce one of the main distractions, that doctors have during their workday. This allows you to focus more effectively on the patient and the care plan that you need to formulate for your patient.

How can patients see their visit notes?

Patients can see their visit notes in the portal. Give patients their care plan details in the portal. Promote privacy to establish them up with their portal accounts so they can interact directly with their physicians. Portals can improve patient loyalty.

Requesting Access to The Medical Portal

• Health care providers who would like to request Board authorization or use the Medical Portal to access training, the MTG Lookup Tool, Drug Formulary Lookup Tool or OnBoard will need to request a Board-assigned NY.gov user ID and password. The following types of health care providers may request access: 1. Acupuncturist 2. Chiropractor 3. Licensed ...

See more on wcb.ny.gov

CMS-1500 XML Submission Agreement

Health Care Provider Online Administration

Technical Support

Resources